This is Leicestershire --A paedophile who subjected his step-daughter to a decade of sexual abuse has been jailed for eight-and-a-half years.
The 38-year-old man preyed on the youngster from the age of seven.
He pleaded guilty to six sexual assault offences against the girl and four of possessing indecent images of children, which he downloaded from the internet.
Victoria Rose, prosecuting, said: "The abuse started when she was seven and the defendant started asking for 'cuddles' when her mother was out.
"The cuddles started to change."
He touched her indecently and it progressed to other forms of sexual activity.
Miss Rose said on one occasion he made her wear her mother's underwear and ordered her to lie on the matrimonial bed. When she objected, he ordered: "Just do it."
Miss Rose said: "She once challenged him, asking him why he was doing it. She said a normal father wouldn't do that to a daughter."
Her step-dad replied: "I'm doing it to help you."
He continued to abuse her, often removing her clothing to touch her intimately, at their home in south Leicestershire.
Miss Rose said: "She said she didn't like what was happening and she would cry while it was taking place."
The victim's father, in the public gallery at Leicester Crown Court, interrupted the proceedings and was ordered by the judge to leave the room.
When the step-dad was arrested for the abuse, the police found indecent images of pubescent and pre-pubescent girls on his computer.
There were 73 images in the least serious category at level one, one image at level two, 11 images at level three and two images at level four.
Sentencing, Judge Michael Pert QC said: "She'd been your step-daughter since she was very young. You were the one person in the world she should have been able to trust.
"You used her as a sexual plaything from the age of seven until she was 17."
Vasanti Vaitha, mitigating, said: "He's remorseful. He appreciates there's little that can be said now to take away the harm he's done.
"At the end of his sentence, he will have very little to come out to and will have to start from scratch."
The defendant was placed on a sexual offences prevention order, banning unsupervised contact with females under 16 and prohibiting him from living in the same house as any female under 18.
He is not being named to protect the victim's identity. Reported by This is 13 hours ago.